Hehe, in October of 2021, we received an email that began, “My name is Penny, and I’m a Cardie.” 😉
Full of warmth, energy, and non-stop card ideas, Penny shared, “I first discovered Cardthartic while visiting a local gift shop where I live on Cape Cod. The visual of the cherry trees in bloom caught my eye. It was, of course, your Cherry Blossom grief card with the amazing words, ‘When you’ve loved someone your whole life … you can be sure their love surrounds you still.’”
A prolific writer and photographer, too, Penny has submitted a good number of sentiments and images both that we hope to get around to publishing one day. Years ago, she proposed we revise our Meanings of Life card featuring the sun, saying, “I admit to thinking my version is much better than your current sun card — in fact, I wrote my message in a card to my husband and he told me it was the nicest card he ever received.” As it happens, we already had our own revised version ready to go on press, but we had just enough time to add “Inspired by Penny Schiller” to the card back. “When my husband saw that shout-out to me,” Penny says, “he immediately said, ‘We have to order more of those cards!’ Then he wanted to know if my sun card message was suggested before or after. Haha, I shared with him how I still liked mine better!
“I’m a gardener by day,” Penny described herself, “and I also enjoy taking my hands out of the dirt to send love in an envelope. You know you’re a Cardie when your hands are wet and you STILL write a card!”
“There’s something special about how my body quiets when I sit down to write a card,” Penny explained, “My muscles relax and my mind settles a bit and I get an almost euphoric feeling — like a combination of imagination and love are about to somehow be channeled into my pen.”
She recalled, “My old astrologer — the late, great Isabel Hickey — suggested that, every time you put something in the mail, you first surround it with love and light so that all who touch it — whether it’s a mail carrier, the person receiving, opening and processing your bill payment, or someone getting the card you have sent — they too will receive that positive energy. I just love thinking about this and still try to remember to do it.
“I received another order of cards the other day,” Penny said, “and, I have to admit, I stopped what I was doing, I was so excited to open them up. To my GLEE, the Crayon Card was on top and I just loved the richness of the colors, the way the crayons were splayed across the card, the words — perfect in every way — the texture … such joy! I proceeded to go to each card, fully recognizing who would receive each one, and that brought tears to my eyes … and there I sat, just breathing in the words …thank you. Mmm … breathing in the words — I like that!”
With the release of the pussy willows design in April of 2024, Penny blossomed into a Contributing Cardie, for it was Penny who planted the seed and then tended and nurtured that card into being.
A couple of dreary months before, in February of ‘24, she had emailed us that “the glorious SUN came out on Cape Cod today after what feels like seven years of gray skies.” Her Cape reference led us to ask if she purchased Cardthartic at The Heritage Museum and Gardens in Sandwich, MA.
She replied, “My husband Luke and I have been Heritage members since buying our home in 1993, and live a couple of miles away. We would go more often if our hands were not always in the dirt!”
“I’m thinking Heritage needs some pussy willow bare root seedlings,” Penny mused. “I have been personally trying to bring PWs back to the Cape. They used to be everywhere. The same thing happened where I grew up on Long Island: Development mowed them down. Awful.” That led her to, “Hey, don’t we need a pussy willows card?!” We happily agreed.
The following week, at Cardthartic’s Creative studio on Miami Beach, our mailperson delivered a box of a dozen pussy willow branches direct from Penny’s home on the Cape! Very cool. “I forced these branches in my house,” she said, “but normal bloom will open with some warmer temps soon. The PWs will be fabulous this year,” she said. “The native I have gets really large silver catkins like nothing you see in stores or florist shops. It’s a stunner. And when you see it with a crazy blue sky behind it, it is magical.” Does anyone reading this have any doubt?
When we sent the draft of her pussy willows card for approval, she helped us tweak it here and there, then said, “I’d like to dedicate the card ‘To a hopeful Mother Earth, and the most important person on it, my sweets, Luke.’” And so it is.
Stay tuned. We have a feeling Contributing Cardie Penny is only getting warmed up!
Great Cardie Quote by Penny
Inspired by Penny
Penny’s Favorites
Hehe, in October of 2021, we received an email that began, “My name is Penny, and I’m a Cardie.” 😉
Full of warmth, energy, and non-stop card ideas, Penny shared, “I first discovered Cardthartic while visiting a local gift shop where I live on Cape Cod. The visual of the cherry trees in bloom caught my eye. It was, of course, your Cherry Blossom grief card with the amazing words, ‘When you’ve loved someone your whole life … you can be sure their love surrounds you still.’”
A prolific writer and photographer, too, Penny has submitted a good number of sentiments and images both that we hope to get around to publishing one day. Years ago, she proposed we revise our Meanings of Life card featuring the sun, saying, “I admit to thinking my version is much better than your current sun card — in fact, I wrote my message in a card to my husband and he told me it was the nicest card he ever received.” As it happens, we already had our own revised version ready to go on press, but we had just enough time to add “Inspired by Penny Schiller” to the card back. “When my husband saw that shout-out to me,” Penny says, “he immediately said, ‘We have to order more of those cards!’ Then he wanted to know if my sun card message was suggested before or after. Haha, I shared with him how I still liked mine better!
“I’m a gardener by day,” Penny described herself, “and I also enjoy taking my hands out of the dirt to send love in an envelope. You know you’re a Cardie when your hands are wet and you STILL write a card!”
“There’s something special about how my body quiets when I sit down to write a card,” Penny explained, “My muscles relax and my mind settles a bit and I get an almost euphoric feeling — like a combination of imagination and love are about to somehow be channeled into my pen.”
She recalled, “My old astrologer — the late, great Isabel Hickey — suggested that, every time you put something in the mail, you first surround it with love and light so that all who touch it — whether it’s a mail carrier, the person receiving, opening and processing your bill payment, or someone getting the card you have sent — they too will receive that positive energy. I just love thinking about this and still try to remember to do it.
“I received another order of cards the other day,” Penny said, “and, I have to admit, I stopped what I was doing, I was so excited to open them up. To my GLEE, the Crayon Card was on top and I just loved the richness of the colors, the way the crayons were splayed across the card, the words — perfect in every way — the texture … such joy! I proceeded to go to each card, fully recognizing who would receive each one, and that brought tears to my eyes … and there I sat, just breathing in the words …thank you. Mmm … breathing in the words — I like that!”
With the release of the pussy willows design in April of 2024, Penny blossomed into a Contributing Cardie, for it was Penny who planted the seed and then tended and nurtured that card into being.
A couple of dreary months before, in February of ‘24, she had emailed us that “the glorious SUN came out on Cape Cod today after what feels like seven years of gray skies.” Her Cape reference led us to ask if she purchased Cardthartic at The Heritage Museum and Gardens in Sandwich, MA.
She replied, “My husband Luke and I have been Heritage members since buying our home in 1993, and live a couple of miles away. We would go more often if our hands were not always in the dirt!”
“I’m thinking Heritage needs some pussy willow bare root seedlings,” Penny mused. “I have been personally trying to bring PWs back to the Cape. They used to be everywhere. The same thing happened where I grew up on Long Island: Development mowed them down. Awful.” That led her to, “Hey, don’t we need a pussy willows card?!” We happily agreed.
The following week, at Cardthartic’s Creative studio on Miami Beach, our mailperson delivered a box of a dozen pussy willow branches direct from Penny’s home on the Cape! Very cool. “I forced these branches in my house,” she said, “but normal bloom will open with some warmer temps soon. The PWs will be fabulous this year,” she said. “The native I have gets really large silver catkins like nothing you see in stores or florist shops. It’s a stunner. And when you see it with a crazy blue sky behind it, it is magical.” Does anyone reading this have any doubt?
When we sent the draft of her pussy willows card for approval, she helped us tweak it here and there, then said, “I’d like to dedicate the card ‘To a hopeful Mother Earth, and the most important person on it, my sweets, Luke.’” And so it is.
Stay tuned. We have a feeling Contributing Cardie Penny is only getting warmed up!
Great Cardie Quote by Penny
I like the way Penny thinks and expresses herself. A true cardie just like all of us!
Penny is my life ….. and my partner, and all she says is so true to life…and to her sense of life. She makes everyone who knows her more alive!
Welcome Penny! I only recently learned that pussy willow bouquets need NO water… wish I had known that years ago… Speaking of years ago, I LOVE those alpacas, sister!